Cerebral palsy (CP) is a non-progressive disease or disorder involving irreparably damaged or injured areas of the brain, including connections between the cortex and other parts of the brain (the central nervous system) and the muscles in the peripheral nervous system. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) defines cerebral palsy as any of a number of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movements and muscle coordination but do not worsen over time, and the NIH makes clear that cerebral palsy cannot be cured.
Infantile cerebral palsy (ICP) refers to a disorder affecting movement. Infantile spastic cerebral palsy refers to ICP with spastic motor defects. Generally, infantile spastic cerebral palsy can be separated into two groups: (1) the symmetric palsies, including the diplegias, which exhibit symmetric involvement on both sides of all four extremities but to a greater degree in the legs, and the paraplegias, in which the lower extremities are equally involved, and (2) the asymmetric palsies which include the hemiplegias, monoplegias, triplegias and quadriplegias. The quadriplegias differ from the diplegias in that all four extremities are more or less irregularly involved often with equal or greater spasticity in the arms.
A most common type of spastic cerebral palsy is spastic diplegia. Most individuals with spastic diplegia exhibit scissors gait. Scissors gait is characterized by adduction and internal rotation at the hip, rigidity and excessive adduction of the leg in swing, flexion at the knee, planton flexion at the ankle and contractions of the spastic muscles. Other cerebral palsy gait impairments include toe down where the toe is pointing down and inward. Such gait impairments result in the toe-to-heel step as opposed to the correct heel-to-toe step. Toe-to-heel step in turn causes considerable pain to the individual. Some individuals may exhibit combinations of such characteristics.
Attempts to treat gait impairments and spasticity include devices such as a therapeutic chair as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,083, issued Mar. 20, 1979 to Urban; transcranial electrode stimulation as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,075, issued Jul. 4, 1989 to Liss; transcranial magnetic stimulation as disclosed in US2011/0270345A1, published Nov. 3, 2011 to Johnston et al.; neurosurgery as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,936,049, issued Aug. 30, 2005 to Svadovskiy; botulism toxin as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,378,389, issued May 27, 2008 to Graham; and combinations of botulism toxins with automated movement therapy as disclosed in US 2008/0279896A1, published Nov. 13, 2008, to Heinen et al. Heinen et al. discloses pharmaceutical muscle stimulation prior to and in combination with botulism toxin and in further combination with automated movement interventions.
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the cerebral nervous system effecting specific motor systems that result specifically from the dearth of dopamine generating in the basal ganglia. Parkinson's disease is an idiopathic degenerate disorder that develops usually in individuals 60 years of age or older. A brain scan of an individual with Parkinson's' disease reveals no brain damage, unlike cerebral palsy. Parkinson's disease is characterized by stiffness or rigidity, slow and decreased movements resulting in gait instability and the readily recognizable Parkinson's shuffle. Parkinson's gait rigidity is markedly distinguished from cerebral palsy spasticity. Insofar as Parkinson's disease results from a loss of dopamine, one treatment is the administration of dopamine agonists particularly methylphenidate, as disclosed in Methylphenidate for the Treatment of Gait Impairment in Parkinson's Disease; NIH Clinical Trials, pp 1-5; Oct. 27, 2009; and dopamine transporter inhibitors, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,258,305, issued Sep. 4, 2012 to Hauske.
The art desires a treatment for a cerebral palsy gait impairment in one or both lower limbs that provides persistent improvement in gait and does not require mechanical, electro-mechanical, invasive and toxic interventions.
The art also desires a treatment as aforesaid including a pharmacological intervention and method for treating a gait abnormality or impairment resultant side effect from the administration of an anti-cancer or anti-seizure drug.
The art desires a treatment as aforesaid wherein the impairment is diminished, and the diminishment in the impairment persists and continues over time, even when the pharmaceutical intervention is no longer efficaciously present.
The art also desires a pharmacological intervention as aforesaid for the simultaneous treatment of a gait or limb impairment and a speech impairment, particularly in children, and more specifically including Rett syndrome limb and speech impairments.
The art also desires a pharmacological intervention for a gait impairment as aforesaid that is readily administered, efficacious and safe, with ready and persistent diminishment of the gait abnormality or impairment. The present invention provides a solution to the aforesaid needs.